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In November 2015, a police full-time national serviceman — who was attending to a theft case reported by an 84-year-old retiree — ended up stealing three 100g gold bars from her flat in Waterloo Street. Apparently, he’d lost money in stocks and soccer betting, and he needed to pay off his debts. The gold bars amounted to a total worth of $13,800.
Tan Bing Ren, 21, pleaded guilty to two counts of theft and was sentenced to 16 months in jail yesterday. A charge of pawning a gold bar for $4,600 was considered during his sentencing. The Special Constabulary sergeant, along with a colleague, responded on Nov 24 to Tsang Siang Le’s police report alleging her maid had stolen from her. She showed the officers the inside of her safe, where she kept her valuables, and displayed the items on her bed. Tan saw the four gold bars and swiped one when no one was looking.
Two days later, he sold the gold bar at Value Max Pawnshop in Buffalo Road for $4,600. The cash was used to pay back a friend $2,000 for the money he borrowed to settle a bank debt that he had taken after his investment losses cost him $20,000.
Unfortunately, it didn’t stop there. A couple days later, Tan went back to Tsang’s apartment, claiming he wanted to suggest the idea of installing CCTV cameras in her unit to her. He requested for her to show him her valuables to ensure nothing was missing, and snatched two more gold bars without her noticing.
But she did discover the three missing gold bars later that day, and made a police report. It is believed that Tan gave one to his friend as a loan repayment and the other to his girlfriend for safekeeping when he realized the police were after him. All the gold bars and the $2,000 have since been recovered.
